The Endless Waltz
by RedTawr
Summary: We've all seen time-travel fics before. But we never see the full weight of it. What does it really mean to repeat time forever? What does a ninja actually do in that scenario? Naruto, having lived thousands and thousands of full lifetimes, has resigned himself to his fate: forever dancing the endless waltz of time.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

**Note:** The time-travel trope in Naruto has been pretty thoroughly played out, but there is one angle on it that I have only seen attempted once, and that fic was abandoned in 2009. (The fic in question is _Nothing is Certain Except the Stubbornness of a Demon_.)

Since that author hasn't done anything with the fic or the concept in four years, I'm going to do my own version of it. Maybe.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to a ceiling that he hadn't seen in decades. He closed his eyes again, sighed, and relaxed all his muscles, laying completely at ease.

_I don't know why I hoped for anything different._ He began to go through his mental checklist. _I don't suppose you're around Kurama?_ He waited several seconds in silence before opening his eyes to the ceiling once more and sighing again.

Perhaps this time through he'd skip the whole ninja thing? He sat up and set his feet down on the floor, stretching his aching muscles. Ah, that's right, he always forgets by the end of one life that at the beginning of his next he'll be sore from beating down Mizuki.

Naruto got up and went over to his cupboard, knowing that there would be nothing but ramen there for breakfast. Well... no, he did have the two ration bars that he'd pilfered a week before his "moment of awakening" as he called it now. Or just, "the moment".

Everything before this moment he'd lived only once, that very first time that seemed so far away now as if to not even be as tangible as a dream. Everything after that point he'd lived... well let's just say that his first theory about it being a side effect of the Shadow Clone technique was certainly wrong, because he'd lived more lifetimes than he'd ever made Shadow Clones.

Yeah... he was pretty old.

So old in fact that the last few lifetimes he'd begun to feel like there was simply nothing left to do. He'd been a ninja, and he'd seen that play out so many ways that he almost didn't even see the point. He'd been a merchant too, and a fisherman, and a member of the royal court. He'd joined Orochimaru, he'd helped Akatsuki complete their "Eye of the Moon" plan (and was quite amused at how poorly it worked even when it was pulled off perfectly), and he'd been the most revered Hokage in history. He'd taught at the academy, he'd had genin teams, and he'd even united the elemental nations.

The pot hissed as the water came to a boil and he poured it quickly over his instant ramen, his hands working on their own to prepare his most familiar dish. Not that he didn't know how to cook... he'd been a renowned chef several times.

Naruto sighed as he sat down at his table, slowly slurping his noodles.

Time itself had been conquered. It hadn't taken long for him to conclude that this was some sort of time-travel matter, and after a few lifetimes he'd even learned how to time-travel himself using seals. So he'd gone and met his parents, because when you've got limitless time, why not? He'd even changed his own fate a few times, ensuring that he had at least some family to grow up with. The difference that had made in his life was... absurd.

No, after he'd mastered time-travel, he'd been so confident that he'd figure out what was going on and fix it. Oh, he'd had theories. He'd worked on them _literally_ for lifetimes. He could never travel further back than the Sage of Six Paths, and he could never travel into the future beyond the longest he'd ever lived: his 87th birthday. If, during a life, he made it to his 87th birthday he always fell ill a few days before and passed away, on to the _next_ life.

Theories were for younger men though. He no longer had theories. He no longer really thought about it. He'd been so anxious to "fix things" after getting through his first two lives, but then... he had. And he'd had a family, and he'd become Hokage, and he'd ruled over a prosperous and peaceful Konoha.

And then he'd woken up on the morning of genin team assignments again, and that's when he started plotting how to undo himself. Before that he'd spent a _dozen lifetimes_ plotting all the corrections, and he'd made small but precise adjustments to the timeline at different points all the way back to the Sage of Six Paths before living his life in the best society he could possibly create.

Waking up after that life had been a little tough. He'd _wanted_ to pass on after that one. He'd had nothing else to do.

That morning had been... well, he wasn't going to repeat that. It was unpleasant. He'd long since figured out that he couldn't commit suicide, as he always woke up when he died. So perhaps in a bit of a tantrum, he'd started using his time-travel abilities to 'unmake' himself.

That time he'd killed his five year old self, but reality started to tear apart after he did that, and he had simply drifted in a featureless white plane for what seemed like a century as formless consciousness and once more woken up in a perfectly stable and happy Konoha.

No, theories were for younger men than him, and he no longer really paid much attention to investigating why he was reliving his life over and over. It was after his 'unmaking' that he'd first decided to live a non-shinobi life. That first one he'd just run away and become a farmer, and that life was the last time Kurama had said a word to him.

He didn't really understand why the demon had stopped talking to him or interacting in any way. That had been thousands and thousands of lifetimes ago. Oh, he'd checked on the demon, just to make sure that nothing had happened, but every time he had Kurama had clearly been alive in some kind of trance.

Naruto shrugged it off after a few lifetimes. It would have been nice to at least have someone to talk to through this endless waltz of time, but he could understand a bit why the demon had chosen to pull into some sort of meditative state. As bad as it was for him to live millions of years, it had to be even worse to live that long inside of the seal. He could still use the Kyuubi's chakra fully, the demon's mind just wasn't present.

Naruto glanced at the clock, swallowing the last of his noodles. Well, if he was going to be a ninja this life, he had to get ready. He stared at the clock for five seconds, deciding, before sighing and putting on his orange jumpsuit. Ninja it was.

* * *

**Note:** So tell me what you think. I sort of have a plan for this, but I'm not even sure if people care at all about _yet another_ time-travel fic.


	2. Homunculus

**Homunculus**

* * *

**Note:** After posting the prologue, I felt inspired, and immediately started working on this chapter. I hope you like it.

* * *

As Naruto jumped from building to building he couldn't help but smile. He loved feeling young, that was perhaps the only nice thing every time he woke up 12 years old again. Going to sleep as a tired and aching old man then waking up in a vigorous young body was pleasing in a way that you really had to live several times to appreciate.

As he drew close to the Academy, Naruto jumped down into the street and began walking down the familiar path, almost cheery. He went through cycles. Some lives he felt very jaded and tired, and others he felt fresh, like a painter in front of a new canvas. That thought made him perk up. Maybe he'd take up painting this time, it'd been a while since he'd been a painter...

Without really paying that much attention, Naruto walked into the classroom and took a seat.

"Oi," he heard Kiba from across the room. "Only people that _passed_ were supposed to come today Naruto." He turned and smiled at the boy. Kiba was a good friend, just a bit difficult to get close to.

"That's why I'm here!" he said, flashing the boy a smile and adjusting his forehead protector.

"But..." Kiba began to sputter, "you failed the exam yesterday!" Everyone in the room was looking at Naruto now, some with curious expressions and others with disgust. Ah, yeah, always with the disgust this early in life.

Kiba felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around only to see a smiling Naruto. He recoiled.

"When did you get behind me!?" He looked back at the Naruto across the classroom. "Clone?"

Naruto just smiled wider.

"Nope! I'm the real one! That's the clone!"

Kiba turned back around and cautiously touched the clone, only to feel a solid Naruto.

"What kind... of clone is this?" Kiba asked, a bit in awe. "It's solid." That got everyone's attention. Even Sasuke glanced up from the front of the room.

"Shadow Clone," Naruto replied. "They're solid but one good hit dispels them. Go ahead and punch it." Kiba hesitated for a moment before giving the clone a solid blow. It disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Last night," Naruto started, "there was... a special set of circumstances. Anyway, it led to me learning the Shadow Clone technique, but it's such a dangerous technique that the Hokage made me promise to never tell anyone how I learned it." He was stretching the truth just a bit, but that was okay.

Kiba chuckled a bit. "Why would learning a _clone_ technique of all things be _dangerous_?"

"Because," Naruto said, "this one uses so much chakra that even jounin have trouble making more than 2 or 3 at a time. For most ninja at our skill level, trying would kill them."

"Well how can you make one then?" Shikamaru asked, jumping in. That boy was sharp, it wouldn't be long without any help before he figured quite a bit out. Naruto was passed trying to hide much though. These days he just sort of went with the flow.

"There are some special reasons that I have a lot of a chakra. More than... well more than anyone else in the village." Naruto grinned.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, and everyone else was silent. These kinds of outlandish claims were pretty common for Naruto, but today... today he was so calm, so collected and so _eloquent_, that it seemed to everyone like he might be telling the truth.

"I don't suppose you want to tell us about those special reasons?" Kiba asked, more curious now than anything.

"Another time," Naruto said. "Iruka is about to get here."

As soon as he finished his sentence, before anyone could even say anything, the door opened and Iruka walked in. Everyone stared at Iruka for a few moments than looked at Naruto with a wide variety of expressions; most of them simply surprised.

Naruto chuckled as he turned toward the first person to ever truly believe in him. Well, that he knew about at the time that is. Hinata was an entirely different matter.

* * *

"Why don't you guys start off by introducing yourselves?" Kakashi said dully. "Your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams."

"Um, sensei," Sakura spoke up right on cue, "could you go first to show us how it's done?"

"Sure. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like... hmm, I dislike... my hobbies... there, now you guys go." He pointed at Sakura. "You first, pinkie."

Sakura went through the same introduction she always did. Naruto grinned. She really turns into a powerful and independent kunoichi, but you'd never guess it from their first day.

"And you, the orange one."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto," he started. "I like many things, but mostly what I like is being surprised. I dislike..." he paused. He always had to catch himself here. Saying 'I dislike living' didn't exactly go over well with anyone. "I guess what I dislike is sameness. Monotony. That sort of thing. My hobbies include, well... lots of things. And I suppose that my dream is to live past the age of 87."

Sakura and Sasuke both looked at him strangely but Kakashi, in true shinobi fashion, showed no outward response.

"And you," Kakashi said, pointing to Sasuke, who as always went through his rather gloomy self-assessment. "Wonderful," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask. "I sure have an interesting batch of genin this year. Meet tomorrow at Training Ground 7 and be there by 8 AM. Oh and one more thing... don't eat any breakfast, you'll just throw it up."

And with that he was gone. Naruto sighed. He could never really introduce much variety into the first day, at least before the team meeting, but now that it was over... Sakura and Sasuke both got up to leave, and Naruto quickly debated about just what sort of life he wanted to craft this time through.

Well, it had been a while since he'd done what he liked to call an "honest" run. Maybe it was time for one of those.

"Sakura, Sasuke. Let's go get some lunch, my treat."

"Tchya," Sakura scoffed, "Why would we want to come eat lunch with you, loser!" Sasuke just stared at him intently. No doubt the way he had behaved so far today was piquing Sasuke's interest.

"Because, Sakura, I have a story to tell both of you. We're teammates now, and that means we shouldn't have many secrets." Naruto grinned confidently. The ease that he exuded really threw both of the others off. "Trust me, you'll be glad that you listened to what I have to say."

Sakura turned to check with Sasuke, but the raven-haired boy was completely focused on Naruto now.

"Alright," he finally said. With him going Sakura agreed quickly, and they walked down the street. After a few minutes of walking in silence, Sakura finally couldn't take it anymore.

"So where are we going Naruto?" she asked. They weren't headed towards any restaurants that she knew of, and they weren't even heading to that stupid ramen shack that the blond hung out at all the time.

"Ah, well you see, I'm kind of poor. Being an orphan does that. It doesn't help that all the villagers hate me quite a bit, so we're going to my place. I sent out some Shadow Clones this morning while we were waiting for Kakashi to do some grocery shopping, and they should have lunch ready by the time we get there." They both stared at him with various degrees of incredulity flitting across their faces. He smiled. "Besides, what I'm going to tell you guys today includes two S-class village secrets. We can't have anyone eavesdropping, and I can secure my apartment."

That put an end to any other questions or conversation, but they were definitely interested. They always were when he did one of these, Naruto reflected.

As they came to the front door Sakura reached for the handle, but Naruto grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"No, let me," he said. He bit his thumb and went through several hand seals before pressing his palm against the door. A large seal array burned black, then red, then white, before fading away. He turned and smiled at her. "It wouldn't have been very pleasant for you if you'd activated the security seals."

"Where did you learn that?" Sasuke asked pointedly. That had been some very advanced seal work.

"Wait until we're sitting down," Naruto replied, ushering them into the apartment. They walked in and glanced around. It was a fairly normal, small apartment, except for the three Naruto clones over by the stove. Whatever they were cooking though smelled amazing.

The original walked over to the small table and pulled out two chairs.

"Come, sit down. Lunch is almost ready."

They cautiously took their seats, and a few moments of silence passed before Sakura finally spoke up.

"What's going on Naruto? You're acting strange." She sounded much less sure of herself than before.

"He might not be Naruto," Sasuke offered. "He might be a spy."

"Young people are always so impatient," Naruto said, seemingly to no one. Before either of them could protest though, the three clones placed three separate dishes in front of each of them.

Sakura was served a Strawberry Glazed Salmon with an herb salad, Sasuke got a big bowl of Tomato Bisk with Cheese Bread, and in front of Naruto the clones placed a plate of what looked like assorted sushi.

"This..." Sakura looked at the plate in front of her, stunned. "This is my favorite dish. _Exactly_ the way my mom makes it!" She grabbed a fork, took a quick bite and her eyes bulged. "This is the best I've ever tasted!"

"How did you know I like tomato?" Sasuke asked quietly. He seemed much more hesitant to touch the meal. Naruto swallowed the sushi piece in his mouth.

"It's not poisoned, Sasuke. Go ahead and eat, it's time for me to tell both you my story." Without any movement or indication three brand new clones popped into existence and went to different parts of the room, activating some seals that had been hidden. Within moments they were finished, and immediately Naruto's expression relaxed into what could only be described as bored indifference.

"The first secret that I have to tell you," Naruto began as the other two ate, "is one that only I can tell you. Well, me or the Hokage. If anyone else were to tell either of you, they would be subject to execution." Both of them stopped eating at that.

"I'm a jinchuuriki," he started, "which means I have one of the Tailed Beasts sealed inside of me." He lifted up his shirt and channeled some chakra, exposing the seal on his stomach. "The Fourth, for some reasons I won't go into right now, didn't have the energy to properly seal the Kyuubi, so he used a forbidden sealing technique that cost him is life, and sealed the demon into me."

He paused to give them a moment to jump in, but they just sat there, shocked. So he continued.

"Because of the death of the Fourth, things were very chaotic right after the sealing, and a proper explanation was never given to the village. Many of them view me as the Kyuubi itself, although if that were true I would have destroyed this village long ago." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "But anyway, in order to protect me, or at least try to give me something like a normal life, the Third passed a law after becoming Hokage again forbidding anyone except for the Hokage or me to reveal that I was a jinchuuriki. That meant that no one in our generation knew why everyone hated me... but a lot of them disliked me anyway.

"I guess it was the right decision. It was the best that Jii-san could do, anyway. But because of that my whole life I've dealt with things like running from mobs of people trying to capture me, not being able to buy things from stores... stuff like that. I'm not allowed in most restaurants." Naruto's expression hardened. "Neither of you may ever tell anyone about this though. The law is still in effect, and you'll be executed if you do."

The room was silent and still for several moments.

"I see," Sasuke said. "That... makes some sense."

"Is that why you were always pulling pranks?" Sakura asked. The follow up question that she didn't ask hung in the air where everyone heard it, even though it hadn't been said: 'is that why you're so annoying all the time?'

Naruto chuckled.

"For most of my life I didn't know about the Kyuubi either. Not until, relatively, last night. I pulled pranks because... well because it sucks growing up so alone, with no friends. A lot the time people just pretended I didn't exist. But everyone stopped pretending I didn't exist when I pulled a good prank!" His smile faded. "But yeah, indirectly, that's why I was always pulling pranks."

"Oh," Sakura replied, looking down at her plate and poking at her food. She felt sort of bad for how hard she'd been on him all these years now.

"Is that why you have all that chakra you were talking about?" Sasuke asked pointedly. Sakura looked back up at Naruto, curious about the answer.

"Sort of," he said. "Having the Kyuubi sealed inside me gives me a lot of extra chakra, yes, and the seal is designed to allow me to pull some chakra out. But I'm also an Uzumaki. You guys probably don't know much about the Uzumaki, but they were a clan from Hidden Whirlpool, back before the Second Shinobi War, and they were known for many things, one of them being their very large chakra reserves." Naruto took out a kunai and sliced his hand, channeling chakra to close it. "Another being their amazing healing abilities. Having the Kyuubi makes my healing abilities even stronger. It would take quite a bit to kill me."

Naruto glanced between them.

"Why are you telling us all of this?" Sasuke asked.

"Well..." Naruto started, drawing the word out. "The short answer to that is that we are on a team now, and knowing about me will help both of you stay alive and succeed. Any time you don't know something important about your allies, lives can easily be lost."

Sasuke nodded.

"Naruto?" Sakura said softly. "What happened last night? You're so... different. It's like you're a completely different person now."

Naruto's face instantly fell into his ninja mask of calm, startling both of his teammates. He looked between them.

"Last night, from your perspective, I stole the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage Tower under orders from Mizuki, the academy teacher. He told me that if I could steal it without being caught and learn one technique from it, that I could become a ninja even though I failed the genin exam.

"It was from that scroll that I learned the Shadow Clone. I didn't realize at the time just how difficult the technique was supposed to be. It usually takes experienced ninja quite a while to learn the technique, but I learned it in a few hours, only to discover that Mizuki was a traitor, and that there was no extra test. He had me steal the scroll so that he could take it from me and defect from the village with it, delivering it to Orochimaru, a Konoha Missing Nin."

He let that sink in, and seeing no objections from them, continued.

"But that actually isn't the reason that I seem so different. This brings me to the second S-Class secret. This is a secret that no one else knows right now. Not Kakashi-sensei, not the Hokage... no one. And for now, it needs to stay that way.

"I am not the Naruto that you went to school with yesterday. I am a Naruto from the future... sort of."

"You can't be serious," Sasuke interjected with a groan. "From the future? C'mon Naruto, you've pulled better pranks than this."

"Let me finish," Naruto said simply, his face completely serious. Neither of his teammates said anything for a few seconds so he pressed on. "I'm not _exactly_ from the future. I've simply lived many lifetimes. You see, every time my life ends, whether it's in a battle of some kind, because I get sick and die, or because I just grow old, I wake up again on this morning. I'm not exactly from _the_ future. I've just lived thousands of different futures."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "The seal..." he muttered. "That's how you knew the seal on your apartment door."

Naruto nodded. "It's difficult to really express to you how much time I've lived through. I've experienced more years during my lifetimes than humans have existed. I've lived hundreds of thousands of years worth of lives. Over and over. Sometimes I decide to be a ninja, sometimes I don't. This time I did."

They both looked at him with the most shocked expressions on their faces.

"Doesn't..." Sakura started. "Doesn't that get... boring?"

"Of course. Remember what I said at the team introductions? I hate experiencing the same things over and _over _and _**over**_."

"Why do you keep doing it then? Going back I mean."

Naruto looked at her annoyed for a second before sighing and relaxing. "I've spent thousands of years trying to figure out why this is happening to me. As far as I can tell there's no reason, it just happens, and it always will happen. I've tried to _end it_." He paused. "Nothing stops it. I gave up even trying so long ago that I don't even know the number of lifetimes. At this point I've seen and done just about everything. Who knows? Maybe I'm actually in hell, and a literal eternity without rest is my punishment. I haven't given it much thought in millennia."

"How can you prove that what you're saying is true?" Sasuke asked, still sounding skeptical. Naruto turned and stared directly at him.

"After a while it will become the only thing you can really think of that explains all of the skills and knowledge that I have. At that point, you won't even have a shred of doubt. But from experience, Sasuke, I know that this is the thing that is most convincing to you:

"Itachi, when he spared you, told you to hate him and one day when you were strong enough, to come kill him. Since then you've spent your entire life trying to gain power in order to kill your brother that killed your clan."

The look of utter and pure shock on Sasuke's face was fixed like a mask.

"But that's something that several people in this village could tell you, because they know about it. So instead, I'll add this: despite the intense amount of loathing you have for your brother, at this moment your greatest fear is that you'll never be able to hate him enough to kill him."

Sasuke stood up and stumbled backward as if he'd been struck, before turning around and running out of the apartment, his half-finished meal completely forgotten. Sakura was shocked on so many levels that she couldn't react immediately, and by the time she could, she wasn't even sure _how_ to react.

"Naruto?" she asked quietly. "Do... you know something about me? That would guarantee I believe you?"

Naruto turned to her, his blue eyes seeming to pierce through her, before he replied.

"Your father used to call you kitten when you were very little, and you hated the nickname, but ever since your brother was killed on a mission when you were five, a brother you've never told anyone else about, he hasn't called you by that name, and secretly you wish that he would call you kitten again, even just once."

Sakura's reaction wasn't much better than Sasuke's as she reeled back before crumpling to the floor, crying. Her brother. No one talked about her brother, not even her parents. _Especially_ not her parents. Naruto grimaced and got up, walking over towards her.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I know that you don't like thinking about your brother much, but he was the original reason you wanted to become a ninja, and I know this is the only way you'll believe me right away."

She looked up at him through her tears and saw the genuine compassion on his face, and for her she immediately knew he was telling the truth. She reached out and grabbed him, sobbing into his shoulders for a few minutes, before quieting down and slowly letting go.

"Naruto..."

"No, Sakura. Right now talking to me isn't what you need. Stand up, walk out the door and enjoy the rest of the day to yourself. Tomorrow we can talk more if you want, but for today I know that you'll be better off if you have some alone time."

Her mouth snapped shut and she nodded dumbly. She stood up in a daze and walked over to his front door before stopping and turning back to face him.

"Naruto, I'm sorry," she said. "For... how I treated you. All these years."

To her utter amazement he laughed and just shook his head.

"Thank you, Sakura, but at the time I really deserved it. Go on, I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded, closing the door behind her as she left. Naruto went back over to the table and started eating his sushi again.

"I guess tomorrow I'll decide about what to tell Kakashi," he mused out loud. "Although... it's always so much more fun when it's just the three of us."

* * *

**Note:** Reviews and comments appreciated. This really is a _very_ different take on time-travel than most Naruto stories. He's not too concerned with how particular events play out inherently, just if he's trying to do something specific with a particular life. From his perspective everyone else gets to make the choices they want to make, and they end up having multiple chances to make those choices.

Sasuke, Haku, Sarutobi... sometimes they live and sometimes they die. But from his timeless perspective that's how it works for everyone. He's even joined the bad guys before, just for variety. So don't expect this to be a story about me having Naruto "fix" his mistakes.

As I noted in the prologue, Naruto already successfully lived a life where he fixed **everything** that he wanted to.


	3. Limitless

**Limitless**

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked back towards his apartment. Kakashi's bell test was one of the things that he hated the most. It was always the same, and for a variety of reasons, it always had to end up very nearly the same.

Nothing about it was... interesting. At least it was over.

He felt Sasuke approaching and groaned. He didn't feel like this conversation right now.

"Naruto," the boy called out. He turned to face the Uchiha, his face slack. "If what you told us yesterday was true... then fight me. You shouldn't have any trouble beating me."

"Sasuke," Naruto started, "I just don't care about that. Go home. I'm tired."

He turned and started walking away again, only for Sasuke to try and hit him. Naruto dodged and then vanished. Sasuke immediately went on guard, but after a few seconds he began searching for the blond. He was gone.

* * *

Naruto felt bad for ditching Sasuke like that. He'd sort of dropped quite a bomb on him and Sakura yesterday, and it was natural for them to want to try and get to know what he was like a bit more, but he just didn't have the energy for it right now. About half the time Sasuke ended up leaving anyway unless he did something drastic, and he just didn't care that often to do anything drastic.

He couldn't go back to his apartment, as both Sakura and Sasuke would find him there, so he decided to simply wander the streets of Konoha. Both of the other rookie teams had already passed their tests he knew, so maybe he'd go talk to them. The simple fact that he couldn't ever be on their team to start with meant that he often found conversation with them to be more interesting early on.

After a while he found that he'd wandered into the ninja supply district. Shrugging to himself mentally he figured that he probably did need to pick up a few supplies, and walked to his favorite supply shop.

"Welcome!" the shop owner greeted when he walked in the door. It was one of the few places that didn't actively discriminate against him this early on. "Can I help you find something?"

"Thank you," Naruto said smiling, "but I'm just going to browse for now." The shop owner nodded jovially and went back to his bookkeeping work at the back of the store.

He walked up and down the aisles glancing at the various tools he could purchase. Smoke pellets were always a good buy, and he grabbed a few. He also nabbed a few caltrops. As he came to the weapons he looked over the selection.

He avoided flashy weapons if he could. Swords, axes, and weapons of that nature tended to cause more trouble than they were worth, unless it was a truly legendary version of one of those weapons. He never enjoyed the type of attention or assumptions that followed if he carried and used one of them.

Instead he picked up a hunting knife to inspect it. Glancing up to ask the cashier a question, another patron in the shop caught his eye. Not because they were important, but because they were staring at him.

Naruto looked directly at her but as soon as he did she seemed to be in the middle of selecting an item and bringing it to the front counter. His eyes were trained on her as his mind quickly worked. She was taller than him, although that wasn't saying much at this age. Maybe two to three years older, with shoulder length red hair and green eyes, wearing a Konoha headband.

He didn't immediately recognize her which was... strange. Normally it was several months before he met someone he didn't recognize on sight, and almost always that person was a civilian of some kind. If not, then a foreign ninja. But definitely not a Konoha nin... he knew every single one of them for the next 50 years by face.

He held the knife and walked toward the counter just as she thanked the cashier and walked out of the shop, not even glancing at him as she left. He brought his purchases to the counter, putting on a smile.

"Did you find what you need?" the shop keep asked sincerely. Naruto placed the items on to the counter and began to pull out his money pouch as the man totaled his purchase.

"I sure did," he said, offering the bills. "Say, did that girl happen to give you her name? I'm pretty sure I recognized her from the academy, and I'm not sure if it was who I think it was."

The man behind the counter chuckled, clearly not believing his story. That's alright, he'd just assume that Naruto wanted her name because he was interested in romantically, and that was an impulse that elders tended to encourage in younger ninja seemingly to live vicariously through them.

"She did, in fact. Her exact words were, 'if the blond asks for my name, tell him I'm Kiyoko'." That certainly surprised him. She'd specifically mentioned him? For what purpose? He didn't know her, which was itself a feat worth investigating. "Looks like you have an admirer," the cashier added, unable to resist the teasing. Naruto took his change and his purchases, forcing himself to blush and look embarrassed.

"Um, maybe," he said in a perfect depiction of a young boy unsure of the opposite sex. But as he left the shop he immediately searched the area, scanning for that distinctive red hair. She wasn't anywhere in sight.

He puzzled over the encounter for a few moments before deciding that he'd figure it out later and moving on. Kiyoko... the name wasn't too familiar either, certainly not with that face. She'd looked similar to his mother or to Karin... both girls of Uzumaki descent. But something was off, he didn't think she was Uzumaki. He'd tracked down every single last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan, and she wasn't one of them.

He shrugged, heading out towards his apartment, but before too long he felt several familiar presences approaching him. He grinned.

"Naruto," Ino called out from behind him. He stopped and turned, waving. Team 10 walked towards him, Ino jogging ahead, a huge grin on her face. "You didn't stop Sasuke-kun from passing the second part of the test, did you?" she asked, her hand pressed against her hip as she came to a stop next to him.

"We passed Kakashi-sensei's test," Naruto responded simply. "How about you guys? I assume you passed Asuma-sensei's test?"

"Tchya!" Ino said, grinning and flashing a 'V for Victory' sign. "Of course we did, no thanks to them!" She thumbed back to Shikamaru and Chouji who had finally caught up. She tossed her hair. "Well where's Sasuke-kun then?"

"He's probably camped out at my apartment, waiting for me to get home," Naruto replied matter-of-factly. Ino raised an eyebrow, but Naruto noticed Shikamaru shift a little, his interest also piqued.

"Why would Sasuke-kun be waiting for you?" Ino asked derisively. Naruto just held his warm grin.

"He had a question he wanted to ask me I think. Why don't you guys come along? I'll make dinner for everyone."

Ino looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Make dinner!? Since when do you know how to cook?"

Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but Shikamaru beat him to it.

"Since the other night, I believe," he said, eyes fixed on the blond boy. Naruto just nodded.

"That's right, it was an interesting night." Naruto turned and started walking off towards his apartment. Without giving any outward indication he created several clones behind a few buildings, sending them ahead. If he was going to host Team 10 and Team 7, he'd need more help in the kitchen and a few more chairs. The clones would have to used Wood Release jutsu to make chairs this quickly, but as long as no one saw that wasn't a problem.

Many people would be very confused and possibly upset if they knew he could use Wood jutsu like the First. The truth was that bloodlines like that worked by combining two elements at the same time, which was insanely hard to do. But when you have as many lifetimes as you want, you can eventually get your elemental manipulation to the point where Wood, Ice or Lava jutsu were just like any other elemental jutsu: something that took skill, focus and chakra, but not a bloodline.

Naruto returned from his musings only to realize that the silence they'd been walking in was obviously uncomfortable for the young ninja.

He was about to say something to lighten the mood, when he felt a twinge, just barely there, that he recognized. Several thoughts went through his head simultaneously. Kakashi was spying on him, but he was using his full skill to hide and suppress himself. He should have been paying more active attention to his surroundings. Hmmm, that probably means that Kakashi saw him create that batch of clones, and if he was using his full stealth skills he already suspected something.

He'd have to take care of this now or Kakashi would cause an issue later at his apartment.

Naruto 'tripped' and stumbled over his feet, catching himself. It created the perfect situation for him to create another clone and swap with it, leaving his clone walking down the street with Team 10 towards his apartment while he snuck up on Kakashi.

The jounin almost certainly knew that the trip had been a fake, but when he was actually trying he knew he could pull off those moves without Kakashi actually being able to see them. Kakashi would know that something just happened, but not what. At least, not for sure.

It took Naruto about thirty seconds to get into position behind Kakashi. He made sure that no one else was around, before stepping out and revealing himself.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto called out. Kakashi didn't startle or jump, which just went to show how good of a ninja he actually was. Instead he turned to face Naruto with a smile. "Spying on your cute little student?"

"Ma, it seems that my cute little student has some explaining to do," Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head. Naruto could tell that he was fully prepared for anything at that moment, although to virtually any ninja he'd appear relaxed and disinterested.

"Those Shadow Clones are really something," Naruto replied. "But I don't think anyone has ever really used them for _training_." He smirked. "Not like I have."

Kakashi's expression smoothed into a neutral face.

"I see," he said. The ability to train with Shadow Clones would be something that Kakashi wouldn't have expected him to figure out on his own so quickly, but it would probably alleviate his concerns for what he had actually seen so far. "Before we leave the village on a mission, you'll tell me the rest," Kakashi said, and without waiting for a reply he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto frowned. He'd done something slightly different. Kakashi had seen something that he usually didn't. Well, at least Kakashi was giving him his space until they left on a more important mission. This sort of conversation had only happened a few times before for Naruto, and he knew roughly how to play it out. But maybe... maybe he'd do something different this time.

Naruto went back over to his clone and swapped, dispelling the clone out of sight so that he had the proper memories to carry on conversation with Team 10.

"Well," Naruto said, "I guess the shape of the arrangement is the most important part to me. Flowers come in all sorts of shapes, and it doesn't matter what colors you have if the shapes aren't pleasing."

Ino nodded approvingly.

"I'm impressed, Naruto. When did you learn so much about flowers? Or carrying a conversation?"

Naruto just chuckled as he held the bag of supplies at his side.

"Oh, you know, anyone can be good at something with enough practice."

They were getting close now, and were in his neighborhood. Ino looked around, seeming for the first time to notice where they were.

"You live here?" she asked, a little put out.

"Yep. I've lived here since I was four."

She didn't seem to know what to say to that, so they walked in silence for a few moments.

"Where did you go?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto glanced back, a look of genuine confusion on his face.

"Go? When?"

"Just a few minutes ago, when you stumbled and replaced yourself," Shikamaru replied, his eyes narrowing.

Naruto gaped like a fish for a few moments, his eyes widening before bursting into a full, hearty laugh.

"Are you serious, Shika? You saw it? You've got to tell me how. Kakashi didn't even see it! Although he was a lot further away..." Naruto trailed off, spacing out for a moment. When he looked back Shikamaru was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, while both Chouji and Ino were simply looking confused.

"What are you two talking about?" Ino asked.

"When he stumbled a few minutes ago," Shikamaru offered, "he replaced himself with a shadow clone and went somewhere for a few minutes. He came back when he sneezed. I just want to know where he went, and why."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru with much more genuine appraisal, as if changing an opinion about something.

"How did you notice me leave?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru grinned.

"I didn't, I noticed you return. But once it was clear that you had just returned instead of left, the only place you could have left was when you stumbled making the blurry nature of a replacement extremely hard to detect in the motion."

Naruto nodded as if Shikamaru had confirmed something.

"You didn't actually see it, did you? It was the shadows."

Shikamaru's eyes widened a bit before he nodded.

"Shika, you surprise me in ways that no one else can," Naruto said jovially. "I had to go talk to my sensei for a minute. C'mon, we're almost to my apartment."

As they made their way up to Naruto's apartment the group was quiet but not uncomfortable this time. When they got to the top of the stairs, Sasuke and Sakura were waiting outside his door. Sasuke looked up and glared.

"You told us we'd talk today. What are they doing here?"

Naruto rolled his eyes before releasing the security seals. He held the door open and ushered everyone in.

"Ah, sorry my place is so small with this many people in it," Naruto said. Team 10 watched in wonder as the team of Naruto clones worked at the stove, clearly cooking food that smelled delicious. He glanced around, thinking to himself. Perhaps he should do the remodeling work a bit early if he was planning on having people over more often. It would be a few years before he could access his inheritance, so this apartment would have to do until then.

As the other genin chatted with each other (Sakura had lots of questions about what Team 10 was like), Sasuke stalked over to Naruto, fire in his eyes.

"You ditched me," Sasuke whispered angrily. "Why?"

"I didn't feel like talking then, Sasuke," Naruto replied, sighing. "We can talk more about _that_ after Team 10 leaves."

"You aren't going to tell them?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Naruto shook his head.

"I'll tell them about the Kyuubi, but not about the other thing. Not yet."

Their meal was quite enjoyable, to the surprise of most of Team 10, and Chouji was stunned to be served one of his clan's special recipes (in the correct quantities no less). After their food was done and plates cleared, Shikamaru fixed Naruto with an intense gaze.

"You want to tell us something," he said. A statement, not a question. Naruto nodded.

"Yes, I'll probably tell Team 8 later since they also passed the final genin test." Naruto took a deep breath. "I wanted to tell you guys something about me that's an S-class secret. If you ever tell anyone else, you'll be executed."

Shikamaru held his intense look, but Ino and Chouji both faulted, taken completely by surprise.

"No one? Not even our parents?" Ino asked. Naruto looked over at her.

"Your parents already know, but yes, you can't even talk to them about it. Not unless the Hokage lifts his order."

"And what's the secret, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked calmly. "It must explain several things, whatever it is."

"You see, the Fourth didn't destroy the Kyuubi 12 years ago. He sealed it." Naruto lifted his shirt, showing the seal again. "Into me. I'm what's called a jinchuuriki, and there's others like me with Tailed Beasts sealed in them. I keep the Kyuubi in check every day by keeping him contained."

Ino and Chouji were stunned, unable to bring out any words, but Shikamaru nodded.

"I see. That explains a lot," he said. His eyes shifted over towards Sasuke. "I assume there is another matter that Sasuke is impatient to talk about which you don't want to discuss with us, so we'll be on our way."

Shikamaru stood up and moved to help Chouji out of his chair.

"You..." Ino stood up, still staring at Naruto in shock. "All this time? The _Kyuubi_!?"

"Well, yeah," Naruto said cheerfully. "We can talk about it more later if you'd like."

She nodded dumbly before getting up and following her team over to his door.

"Hey Naruto," Shikamaru called out just as they reached the exit. "Thanks for telling us."

And with that, they were gone. After a few moments of silence, Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. Naruto turned and looked at his two teammates, smiling.

"Now, you both wanted to talk to me some more?"

"Yes," Sasuke grunted. "What you said last night... I believe you."

"Me too," Sakura agreed. "You... there's no other way you could have known what you did."

"And I assume you have some new questions?" Naruto asked. "Be careful before you ask them. You might not actually want them answered."

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other for a moment, before Sasuke spoke up again.

"Do I succeed?" Sasuke asked. He didn't have to specify at what.

"Well," Naruto started, thinking about the question, "yes I suppose. You've never failed to kill Itachi if it's what you wanted to do."

That answer caused Sasuke to raise his eyebrows, but he caught himself before asking another question. Perhaps he didn't want to know the answer to it.

"And, um... do I... succeed?" Sakura glanced over at the brooding Uchiha for a split second before staring back at Naruto. He chuckled.

"Sometimes, but that always depends on choices other people make, not you."

"Oh." She seemed a bit put out. She smiled as a thought occurred to her. "What about you? Have you ever gotten together with anyone?"

"Of course," Naruto replied, scratching his chin. "I think I've gotten together with almost every girl I possibly can. I dated guys for a while just to do something different, but I don't really like that too much."

"Even me?" Sakura asked surprised.

"Yes, Sakura. Even you."

"Just how strong are you?" Sasuke asked. He had noticed a few more things that gave him a glimpse of just how much power their teammate was concealing.

"Sasuke," Naruto started, his face turning serious, "do you really want to know the answer to that question?" Sasuke thought for a second before nodding. Naruto looked down at his feet for a moment before forming a seal and creating a perfectly shaped wooden chair to sit on. "At this point, I'm pretty sure that it could be 'every other being alive versus Naruto' and I'd be able to win without too much danger to myself."

Naruto rolled up his sleeves, revealing some written seals.

"I have so much chakra that without these seals I start to liquefy within a few hours. For all human purposes, I have unlimited power. There isn't a single ninja that I can't defeat as soon as I decide to, and there never will be."

* * *

**Note: **The main story of this story will pick up next chapter or the chapter afterward.


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